Allison Mack sentencing: Smallville star jailed for three years for NXIVM role as she slams Raniere
Mack’s sentencing and reactions as it happened
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Allison Mack, a TV actress well known for her role in the Superman spin-off series Smallville, has been sentenced to three years in prison for recruiting women for a spiritual cult, NXIVM.
Mack appeared on Wednesday in Brooklyn’s federal court, where she faced charges of sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy, and forced labour conspiracy, for which she pleaded guilty to in April 2019, following her arrest in 2018.
She sought credit for cooperating with the case against NXIVM’s leader Keith Raniere.
He was sentenced to 120 years in jail last year for sex-trafficking and for demeaning and abusing women who became “slaves” for him.
Ms Mack wrote in an apology to victims of NXIVM that it “was the biggest mistake and greatest regret of my life”.
“I am sorry to those of you that I brought into NXIVM,” wrote the former actress. “I am sorry I ever exposed you to the nefarious and emotionally abusive schemes of a twisted man.”
Allison Mack sentenced to three years in prison
Allison Mack has been sentenced to three years in prison for her role in the sex cult, a judge ruled on Wednesday in Brooklyn.
The Independent’s Clemence Michallon has more here:
Allison Mack sentenced to three years in prison for role in sex cult NXIVM
Allison Mack has been sentenced to three years in prison for her involvement in NXIVM.
Mack gave tearful apology in court
Allison Mack, who has been sentenced to three years in prison for her role in the NXIVM cult, tearfully apologised to her victims and her family in court, calling her actions "abusive, abhorrent and illegal”.
She admitted in her guilty plea before the hearing that she coerced two unnamed women into doing work for the group by threatening to release damaging information about them.
Leaders of the cult, including Ms Mack, were said to have kept women on starvation diets, branded them with initials, and in some cases ordered them to have sex with the now-jailed leader, Raniere.
Her lawyers had asked for the “Smallville” actress to face no jail time, but she was instead handed a sentence of three years in prison.
Additional reporting by Reuters.
‘Remorse and guilt’
“I made choices I will forever regret,” said Allison Mack, the former star of “Smallville” for her role in the NXIVM cult before she was sentenced.
As reported by the Associated Press, the 38-year-old told the judge at Brooklyn Federal Courthouse she was filled with “remorse and guilt.”
Judge told Mack she deserved sentence
US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis, who handed Allison Mack with a three year sentence for role in NXIVM, told the actress he believed her apology was sincere, but said she deserved a serious sentence for becoming “a willing and proactive ally” of the group’s leader, Keith Raniere.
Under advisory sentencing guidelines, the 38-year-old could have faced between 14 and 17.5 years in jail for recruiting women to NXIVM, but her lawyers had asked for no jail sentence, and federal prosecutors had acknowledged that a reduced sentenced was possible because of her collaboration with investigations.
Victim of NXIVM says Mack a ‘predator’
A victim of NXIVM, Jessica Joan, hit out at Allison Mack for her role recruiting women to the group, which physically and emotionally abused young women.
“She can blame Keith all she wants but she is a monster cut from the same cloth,” said Ms Joan of NXIM’s jailed leader, Keith Raniere . “Allison Mack is a predator and an evil human being.”
In court, the Smallville star issued an apology for her role in the cult through tears.
NXIVM cult victim hits out at ‘predator’ Allison Mack
TV star tearfully apologised in court but victim says she deserved three year sentence
‘I am sorry’, said Mack
Ahead of the hearing, Allison Mack had written in a letter: "I am sorry to those of you that I brought into NXIVM...I am sorry I ever exposed you to the nefarious and emotionally abusive schemes of a twisted man."
She reiterated her apologies to the victims in court on Wednesday, where she was sentenced to three years in jail for recruiting women to NXIVM: "From the deepest part of my heart and soul, I am sorry."
Mack had helped investigators
The Smallville star had asked the court before the hearing for a sentence avoiding jail time, in part because of her rehabilitation and renunciation of Raniere.
She had also cooperated by providing information to prosecutors about how Raniere, now 60, encouraged “the use of demeaning and derogatory language, including racial slurs, to humiliate ‘slaves,’” against the women caught in NXIVM’s cult.
How NXIVM members were branded
Mack also provided a recording of a conversation she had with Raniere, the jailed leader of NXIVM, about a brand of his initials that was performed on some members.
The branding allegedly involved “a vulnerable position type of a thing” with “hands probably above the head being held, almost like being tied down, like sacrificial, whatever,” Raniere told Mack in that recording.
The women, he added, “should say, ‘Please brand me. It would be an honour.’ Or something like that.”
He was sentenced to 120 years in prison last year.
Mack will serve 1,000 community service hours, and pay fine
Following her sentencing for three years in jail, Brooklyn’s federal court has said Allison Mack will face a $20,000 fine and is ordered to serve 1,000 hours of community service for her role in NXIVM.
Actor remains on bail before prison
Allison Mack was allowed to remain out on bail in home confinement until surrendering to prison on 29 Sept, the Associated Press reports.
She left the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse on Wednesday without speaking to reporters, and was pictured avoiding cameras.
